


Amongst The Stars

by sabolson



Category: Star Trek, Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Genre: F/M, Jim is not a subtle as he thinks he was, Jim tore his shirt again, M/M, Protective Bones, Uhura Sulu and Chekov have a gossip club
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-18
Updated: 2016-09-18
Packaged: 2018-08-09 22:50:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,325
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7820287
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sabolson/pseuds/sabolson
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>According to Lieutenant Nyota Uhura of the starship Enterprise, the best thing to do after a stressful day of failed negations with aliens is to take a nice hot shower, pull on some sweatpants and relax with your stolen therapy tribble. Oh, and wonder what's going on between your captain, his first officer and the head of medbay.<br/> </p><p>Short drabble featuring Nyota Uhura, inspired by a 2am thought of Uhura sitting in a beanbag with a tribble listening to Tinashe.</p><p>Accompanying Playlist: http://8tracks.com/sabolson/amongst-the-stars</p>
            </blockquote>





	Amongst The Stars

It had been, to put it simply, a very long day. Negotiations with Teenaxians had not gone as smoothly as planned over the past week and Lieutenant Nyota Uhura was beyond happy when they finally warped away from the planet. Thankfully she hadn’t needed to do any verbal translations, but the Teenaxians had a tendency to over-read micro-aggressions in virtually everything. Presenting something that used to be a weapon probably wasn’t the best idea. Then again, it was partially the captain’s own fault as he hadn’t exactly taken her advice on the matter.

She let out a long sigh as she escaped into the retro violet atmosphere of her quarters, slipping off her uniform and heading straight to the shower. At the doorway she paused, turning around to push a small button before continuing on her way. There was a short moment of silence, then music overtook as Uhura absentmindedly tossed her bra on the counter. Why did the damn things have to be so uncomfortable? It had been over 260 years the creation of the modern bra, but there had quite literally been no change in design since about 1990. It was 2263, surely some progress should have been made by now!

She stepped into the stream of water, feeling her muscles relax as the heat hit her full blast. Today had been a long, long day. Jim Kirk was a pain in the ass, which wasn't new, but Uhura knew when to give credit when credit was due. Despite all his shortcomings, Kirk was a damn good captain. It seemed like just the other day that they had set out on a five-year long mission and only a day before that she had been running down the hallways after a cadet who had snuck aboard the Enterprise. But through everything that had happened thus far, Kirk had always put his crew first.

Despite the occasional periods of boredom or extreme stress, Uhura loved her job amongst the stars. She, Sulu and Chekov had formed an unofficial gossip club in the botany lab on Friday's - Scotty or Chapel occasionally popped over to visit - and she loved being able to visit more planets and galaxies than she had only ever dreamed of. The Enterprise had a great captain, amazing medical and science teams, and a frankly miraculous engineering crew. She was so thankful that she was able to secure a spot on the the ship, though it had taken a bit of negotiation with a specific Vulcan of hers.

Said Vulcan had seemed awfully on edge as of late, and she suspected that it wasn't just because of stress. Just the other day Spock had mentioned the progress of colonization on New Vulcan, and Uhura knew that he was thinking about leaving to help. Of course it was understandable; recovery from the near annihilation of ones' own species would certainly take precedent over a 5-year exploratory mission. He hadn't brought it up directly, but she knew he would sooner or later, and she wanted to spare him the pain of making the final decision. Unless he had already made it...

Running her hands through her soapy hair, Uhura sighed. She certainly wouldn't be the only one to miss him. Although Spock and Kirk had a very rocky start, the two had developed a formidable bond. Sometimes she wondered who knew Spock better, her or Kirk. She wasn't bothered by their... relationship per say; on the flip side she quite enjoyed watching the two bicker on the bridge like an old married couple. A week without a minor argument between the captain and his first officer was like McCoy without his metaphors.

Speaking of the Chief Medical Officer and bickering, it seemed like not a day passed where McCoy didn't magically appear on the bridge to complain loudly about something space related. Usually starting with a "goddamnit Jim" and ending with "five years in space...", the monotony of alpha shift could always be broken by a hearty argument between either McCoy and Kirk or McCoy and Spock - the latter being shorter and snarkier. The three of them seemed to be a match made in comedic heaven for the rest of the bridge crew; there would be quotes and inside jokes for days afterwards.

She let out a burst of giggles as she rinsed her hair out. Last month there had been a hilarious argument involving Kirk and his stubborn refusal to check into medbay post away missions. She could still see the doctor now, nearly flying off his handle as he stormed onto the bridge carrying a huge case containing what appeared to be half of medbay.

"Damnit Jim HOW many times do I need to tell you..."  
"Bones! Nice to see you again!"

Kirk twisted around to watch the doctor who slammed his case on the counter with ungraceful finesse.

"I cannot run around this damn ship all day baby-sitting someone who can't even get his ass down to medbay when he's bleeding..."  
"Which is why you brought medbay to me right?"

McCoy rolled his eyes at the beaming captain, punching in some code as he spoke.

"I swear to God this is the last time that... did you come here straight from the transporter room?"  
"No, I washed up and got a new shirt since..."  
"OH! Oh so you had the time to wash up and get a new shirt and not the time to come to medbay?!"  
"Aww come on Bones! Don't take it personally..."  
"PERSONALLY? Jim, you're bleeding all over the damn chair!"  
"Well at least I went and washed up! Spock just came straight here!"

At the point, the entirety of the crew turned to look at the First Officer, who stood awkwardly, PADD in hand, near Uhura's station. Spock blinked for a moment, oblivious to the small cuts that lined his arm and the slightly larger one that ran across his palm. 

"Oh for the love of God, you two will be the death of me."

After whipping a hypo out of his case and unceremoniously shoving it into Kirk's neck, McCoy motioned towards the Vulcan.

"Come here you green-blooded hobgoblin, you're not getting out of this one."

After patching up both the captain and his first officer to his liking, McCoy muttered something about alcohol and twirled dramatically towards the turbo-lift. Of course, no one could miss noticing the way Kirk's gaze dropped ever so slightly downwards as the doctor stormed off the bridge or how he and Spock shared a particular look afterwards.

Uhura glanced at Sulu and Chekov. They would have gossip to last months.

Shaking her mind back to the present, Uhura flipped off the water and wrapped a towel around herself. Fully relaxed, she wandered back into her room as she patted at her hair, then dug through her drawers to pull out a pair of fuzzy pants, a tank top and an old sweatshirt from Starfleet Academy. She hummed absentmindedly with the music as she dressed and was about to walk over to the replicator for some cocoa when she heard a squeak. 

"Tsylor?"

Worriedly she looked down, but all she saw was the edges of her shag rug.

"Tsy! Oh no, no, no..."

She dropped to the ground, frantically searching for a handful of fluff. She had finally caved and stolen a therapy tribble from medbay, and she was not gonna kill or lose the living ball of fur. Looking over in panic, she picked up a blanket that had fallen on the floor and there it was; the poor thing had just gotten frightened. She giggled and scooped up the small tribble before replicating a warm mug of cocoa and settling down onto the purple beanbag that inhabited one corner of her quarters. Grabbing her PADD she set Tsylor on her lap, casually petting the tribble as she pulled up an old Terran classic. Oh, how she loved her job amongst stars.

**Author's Note:**

> Feel free to leave constructive criticism and thanks for reading!


End file.
